About 200 children, selected from the brightest across the State, have come together at the Rice Research Station at Mankombu here for a two-day brainstorming session on how Kerala can achieve food security with focus on paddy cultivation.
The session, part of the State Children's Science Congress organised by the Kerala Sasthra Sahitya Parishad, will have the 200 participants presenting project papers on paddy cultivation, with input from their respective districts.
The Congress was inaugurated by Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac, who once again donned the role of a teacher, taking the children through the nuances of paddy cultivation, food security, various disciplines of science and the importance of including the social aspects in every field of study.
Dr. Isaac, who presented all the participants with signed copies of his book Keralam: Mannum Manushyanum after the interactive inaugural session, said the paddy acreage and production in the State, after a lull of several decades, was slowly on the rise and called upon the children to do whatever they could on their part to keep up the momentum.
The children, who interacted with farmers and agriculture scientists, mainly from the RRS in the afternoon session, will be taken on a boat cruise on Tuesday to get to know Kuttanad a lot closer than they have through their books.
Parishad State president K.T. Radhakrishnan; RRS head S. Leenakumari; Science Congress Academic Council convener T.K. Meerabai; Kumarakam Regional Agricultural Research Station director K.G. Padmakumar; and others were present.
The congress will conclude on Tuesday.
